


Life Goes On

by Mileventhings



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 07:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19865677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mileventhings/pseuds/Mileventhings
Summary: Set one month after season 3. The Byers and El are still adjusting to their move to Chicago, and El’s becoming even more quiet and isolated than before. Everyone’s worried, but unfortunately they’ve all got bigger things to worry about. Life goes on, but that’s not always a good thing. Mileven centric.





	Life Goes On

**Author's Note:**

> A/n Hey everybody! This is my first fic on this site so I hope people enjoy it. I watched all of season 3 the day it came out and I’ve been trying to decide what I wanted to write for my poor little Mileven heart since then. And somehow this fic came together. Please leave a comment so I know what people are thinking!

Mike POV

My unconscious ears are suddenly assaulted by my relentless alarm clock. I wake with a start, having been rudely awoken from a deep, dreamless sleep. I guess that means it’s 6.30 AM once more.

I fling my alarm clock across my bedroom to relieve some of my pent up frustration. My friends say I have a lot of that these days. I turn on my stomach, bury my head in my pillow and scream into it. I take a second to compose myself, and then I hop out of bed, without a second to waste. And so starts my freshmen year morning routine.

I throw on my clothes, run a brush through my hair and my teeth, grab a waffle and hop on my bike. Without checking my watch, I know it’s 6.45. Way too early for anybody to be awake. As I cycle away from my house, I’m jealous of my sisters and parents who still have an hour of precious sleep time before they have to wake up and start the day.

And so starts my pilgrimage to Cerebro, on the highest (and farthest) part of town. On a good day it takes 45 minutes to get there from my house on a bike. Of course, then I have to ditch my bike and hike up the big hill on foot. I’ve never been the most athletically talented person but the only good thing about making these pilgrimages to Dustin’s super radio tower three times a day everyday for a month is that I’m more fit than I’ve ever been. When El and I finally see each other again, she won’t know what’s hit her.

Of course, that’s the other good thing about my morning hikes, and by good thing, I mean amazing thing. Because it is my chance to talk to my amazing, wonderful girlfriend El.

When I finally reach Cerebro, I take a second to compose myself after my long journey. Not that she’ll care if I sound out of breath, but it’s still best not to take chances with these things. I don’t want to sound like an out of shape wastoid.

“Mage, do you copy? It’s me, the Paladin.” I say into the microphone. We decided long ago that we wouldn’t use our names over the radios, specifically El’s name, just in case anybody was listening in. We don’t want to push our luck. After waiting a second for an answer, I repeat myself four times before I finally hear my favourite sound in the world, the staticky noise that means El is on the line.

“Paladin? Hi!”

“Yeah it’s me! Hey!”

After a half hour of talking to El and a quick hello to Will, its time for all of us to go to school. We say our goodbyes and once I begin my descent down the huge hill, the point in Hawkins.

Before the Byers moved to Chicago, El was really coming out of her shell. Despite the stepbacks that came hand in hand with Hopper’s death, El was talking more to everyone and was finally figuring out what it meant to be El. She’s really funny, she has a weird deadpan sense of humour that always makes me laugh. And she’scrazy smart. We all thought she’d have a really tough time trying to catch up and be ready for school this September, and while words are always going to be tricky for her, it turns out she’s a ridiculous math whiz. Like she can work out any equation in her head. She says it’s because math just makes sense but I’m convinced it’s one of her powers. She’s also the most genuinely kind and caring person I’ve ever met. Not to mention selfless. It crushed my heart in pieces for El when Hopper died and she had to move in with the Byers and then had to move away. I may not have been Hopper’s biggest fan, and he certainly wasn’t mine, but he and El were a real family. And El deserves a real family. The Byers are great and all, and I know El appreciates everything they’ve done for her, but it just really sucks that she was finally happy and safe, but everything was ripped away from her.

Everything but me, that is. No matter how exhausting this trek to Cerebro is, I love making it, because it means I’m going to talk to El. Her voice is my favourite sound in the world. That is chronically cheesy, and I’d never say it to her or anyone, but it’s true. I’m completely in love with her and if that’s not evident from the fact that I wake up at 6.30 AM every morning just to talk to her, I don’t know what else I can do. And she loves me. When she told me that just before the Byers left for Chicago, I could feel each individual brain cell shutting down. I was totally in shock, I forgot how to even breathe. She kissed me straight after, but I couldn’t even reciprocate it because the only thing I could think of was, why the heck would she love me? She’s literally the coolest person on the planet and she heard me tell basically the whole world that I’m in love with her, so she has definitive proof that I’m a dweeb, but apparently she loves me anyway? How does that work?

And it’s terrible and awful, I know, but I haven’t actually told her to her face yet that I love her too. But what can I do? She told me how she felt literally just before they got in their U-Haul truck on moving day and I don’t want to tell her I love her for the first time over the radio, so I’m in a sticky situation. I’ve decided I’ll definitely do it the next time I see her in person, this thanksgiving at the Byers house in Chicago. I just have to wait one more month.

That month can’t come fast enough though. As much as El seemed to be coming out of her shell in Hawkins, her progress seems to kinda have regressed since moving to Chicago. Maybe it’s just because we’re only talking to each other through radios, but she seems quieter than normal, and less engaged. Maybe it’s me. Maybe there’s cool new guys in her new school and she’s realised her mistake in telling me she loved me. Until I see her face to face, I’m just going to keep conjuring up all the worst case scenarios for El and I. 

Anyway, after this morning’s conversation lagged even more than usual, I think it’s time to consult Will and ask if he thinks El is ok. I know he’s had his own problems with her in the past, but after everything that happened this summer I know he wants to help her in any way he can and promised he’d keep a close eye on her. And like I said, El is selfless and caring and I know that she wouldn’t want to worry me with anything, so if she was having a problem, I doubt she’d tell me. She’s used to taking care of herself. The thing she has yet to realise is that it is literally my job to worry about her. And I will get to the bottom of this.


End file.
